Rotary feeders for conveyor systems



Jan. 17, I961 J. A. BORELLA 2,968,426 ROTARY FEEDERS FOR CONVEYOR SYSTEMS Filed July 10, 1958 FIG. I

14 W M W 27 f 0 1w Z5- 1; 0 21 //j l 0 3 1/ I I v T FIG 3 INVENTOR.

United States Patent ROTARY FEEDERS FOR CONVEYOR SYSTEMS Joseph Borella, Yaphank Road, Coram, N.Y.

Filed July 10, 1958, Ser. No. 747,794

1 Claim. (Cl. 222-313) This invention relates to feeders for conveyor systems to handle materials such as, for example, sand or gravel, and the main object is the provision of a new and improved rotary feeder which is simple in construction and inexpensive in cost of manufacture, which provides fora better flow of the material regardless of over-size stones,

and which is eflicient in the use of power for a given flow of material.

Another object of the invention is the provision of an improved means for regulating the flow of material from the feeder on to the conveyor.

The above broad as well as additional and more specific objects will become apparent in the following description wherein reference numerals refer to like-numbered parts in the accompanying drawing. It is to be noted that the drawing is intended solely for the purpose of illustration and that it is therefore neither desired nor intended to limit the invention necessarily to any or all of the exact details shown or described except insofar as they may be deemed essential to the invention.

Referring briefly to the drawings,

Fig. 1 is a side elevational view of a rotary feed for conveyor systems embodying features of the present invention.

Fig. 2 is a plan view of the same with the hopper omitted and with parts broken away and partly in section.

Fig. 3 is a fragmentary sectional view taken on the line 3-3 of Fig. 2.

Fig. 4 is a perspective view of the door, per se, of the feeder.

Referring in detail to the drawing, the numeral indicates a supporting frame including legs 11 and horizontal end members 13 and side members 12. Opposed upright side walls extend from the members 12, shown at 14.

A rotor 15 is mounted on a shaft 16 supported in trunnions on the side members 12; the rotor is in the form of a drum provided with a lugged or ribbed surface, substantially as shown. The shaft 16 is adapted to be rotated in a counter-clockwise direction, Fig. 1, by a motor, not shown.

A conveyor belt 17 is trained about a roller 18 mounted on a shaft 19. A chain or belt 20 is trained about a pulley or sprocket 21 on the shaft 16 and about a sprocket or pulley 22 on the shaft 19.

A hopper 23 is mounted on the walls 14, through which material enters the rotary feeder. A wiper plate 24, provided with a rubber overhanging edge or strip 25 on its lower edge, is secured between the walls 14 and positioned so that the strip is closely adjacent the ribbed rotor surface in the upper right-hand quadrant, Fig. l, of the rotor.

A door 26 is suspended by means of cars 27 thereon on a pin 28 supported between the walls 14. The lower end of the door curves inward toward the rotor and, by gravity, the lower edge 29 thereof when the door is fully closed engages the ribbed surface of the rotor in the lower left-hand quadrant, Fig. 3.

An elongated rod 30 is secured at one end to a web or the like 31 of the door as, for example, by welding, and has a weight 32 slidable thereon. Means is pro vided for locking the weight releasably in a range of positions on the rod. One such means consists in providing spaced holes 33 in the rod and a transverse hole 34 through the weight, so that a peg, not shown, passed through the weight and a hole in the rod will fix the weight in a given position. A chain 36 provided with a turnbuckle 37 has one end secured at 38 to the hopper frame and the other end secured at 39 to the rod 30 at a point between the nearest hole 33 and the door 26.

By means of the turnbuckle 37 the chain may be shortened or lengthened as desired in order to increase or decrease, respectively, the degree of opening of the door. In order, than the door may be retained in position at a desired degree of opening without being pushed farther open by the weight of the descending material from the rotor, the weight 32 is shifted sufliciently to provide a counter-balance therefor.

Thus a relatively fine control of the degree of opening of the door is attained to provide a degree most satisfactory for the rate of discharge desired and for the nature of the material.

Both vertical edges or sides of the door have rearwardly extending flanges or webs 40 spaced slightly from the walls 14, having a maximum width at the top of the door and a minimum or zero width at the bottom edge of the door. Thus a curved or downwardly tapering trough is provided on the back of the door. Secured on the outer sides of these webs, in any suitable manner, are rubber gaskets 41 which may be in the form of flattened rubber hose sections and which fill the space between the web and the wall 14. These gaskets restrict the material to exit from the hopper through a single passage, that is, through the space between the lower edge of the door and the rotor; they also tend to prevent the door from jamming. Other gaskets or their equivalent may, of course, be used or applied wherever found feasible.

Material discharged from the feeder falls on to the conveyor belt 17, and since the rotor and the belt op erate in synchronism the belt carries away the material as fast as it leaves the feeder.

The wiper 24, 25 serves the purpose of removing from the rotor material which has clung thereto, in the usual manner.

The curved trough allows larger stones than the width of the regulated door opening to fall within the trough to rest on the bottom or throat of the trough until they become engaged by a rib of the rotor and are ejected by momentarily lifting the door with no perceptible hesitation of material flow to and on the conveyor belt.

From all of the foregoing it is apparent that a practical, eflioient and inexpensive rotary feeder has been provided for the purpose intended.

A satisfactory way of affixing the compressed hose gaskets to the flanges 40 is by insertion into the hose of a narrow plate 42 and, by means of rivets or the like 43, securing the plate and hose to the flange.

The invention having thus been described, what is claimed and desired to be secured by Letters Patent is as follows:

A rotary feeder for a conveyor belt comprising an upright frame having a front end and a rear end and including two opposed sides having the upper portions thereof consisting of opposed walls, a shaft rotatably mounted between said sides, a ribbed rotor rigid on the shaft and having at least the upper portion thereof positioned between said walls, the conveyor belt being adapted to be positioned under said rotor, a door having a width substantially equal to the distance between said walls pivotally suspended on a horizontal axis passing through said walls near the top thereof in the forward portion of the frame and having its lower edge normally positioned by gravity against the surface of the rotor which faces toward said front end, a wiper supported between said walls near the top of the walls and in the rear portion of the frame, the wiper having its lower edge positioned closely adjacent the rotor surface, a hopper having its discharge end positioned between saidwalls and between said door and said wiper, and means for opening the door to varying degrees by swinging the'dooron its axis to move said lower edge thereof outward from said rotor surface and for maintaining the door in the degree to whichit has been opened during operation of the feeder in discharging material from'the hopper to the conveyor belt, said door being. arcuate in crosssection with the concave side thereof facing rearwa'rdly toward the rotor andhaving vertical side edges provided with rearwardly. extending flanges at right angles to the door, said flanges having substantially the outline of a triangle and diminishing gradually in width from the top edges thereof to the bottom edges thereof and meeting the bottom edge of the door, the top edge of each fiange constituting one side of the triangle, the vertical side edge of the door constituting another side of the triangle and the rearwardmost edge of the flange constituting the third side of the triangle, the top edges of both flanges lying in a common horizontal plane with the top edge of the door, the rearwardmost edges of the flanges lying in a common plane at right angles to said first-named plane, said door and said flanges together constituting a trough which facesthe rotor and whose depth measured horizontally diminishes from a maximum at the top of the door to zero at the bottom of the door, and gaskets mounted on the outer surfaces of said flanges in slidable engagement with said walls.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 314,627 Tatlow Mar. 31, 1885 803,082 Waterman Oct. 31, 1905 1,014,645 Gilbreth Jan. 16, 1912 1,090,120 Scott Mar. 10, 1914 1,583,008 Rand May 4, 1926 2,070,349 Woodrufi Feb. 9, 1937 2,523,642 Becker Sept. 26, 1950 2,776,783 Stewart Jan. 8, 1957 

